Ok girlies, Skylar here. I went to bed on Oct 2nd ready to wake up to the chatter around Taylor’s new album. I’m generally a fan, and happy supporter of the Swifties. But, according to Twitter (at least my algorithm), the feedback on The Life of a Showgirl was…brutal. People calling out the underwhelming nature of the tracks, dragging her for the Charli XCX shade, and questioning if this is even the same girl who wrote Evermore.

But when I texted Carol and a few other Swifties? Totally different narrative. Everyone seemed… pleased??

So I have to ask the girlies (Carol, sorry if this hurts): what’s the actual truth? Is the album good? Are you secretly skipping it? Or should we retire our Swiftie content for a bit? As always, we promise your answers stay anonymous. 💌

“Anonymous.” (You’ll be sleeping with the fishes before you even know you’re drowning). Just kidding… Honey. -Carol

Things are getting interesting.

Hocus Pocus (57%) vs Streaming Binge (43%): Truly, it’s not spooky season until the Sanderson sisters say so.

Knee-High Boots (62%) vs Pumpkin Patch (38%): Because lets be honest, we’re only going to the pumpkin patch if we are posing in it.

Soup Season (65%) vs Pumpkin Spice (35%): Pumpkin spice girlies showed up swinging, but soup season is ultimate autumn.

Crisp Weather (76%) vs Gilmore Girls (24%): Crisp weather absolutely swept. Turns out we’re all just chasing that Rory Gilmore walk-to-class-in-a-coat energy.

We are closing in on crowning a winner and this week it’s two key battles to watch to see what will be the basic witch bracket’s inaugural winner!

Carol: The Life of a Showgirl gave me life this week. What didn’t give me life was the girl(ie)hood crime on the internet. I’ve just barely recovered from Skylar’s poll above.

In short, to Taylor, I say “get that Wood, girlie.” To fellow girlies, I say please take this opportunity to consider saving The Fate of Girl(ie)hood read my full take here.

Skylar: Beauty is better with friends. If you know me, you know my “makeup routine” usually consists of staring at my products and deciding if I actually need them today. Spoiler: most days, I don’t. Between makeup intimidation and my lifelong fear of clogged-pore breakouts, I’ve never been great at doing it myself and if I have it done by a pro, half the time I end up hating the way I look after.

But here’s my one exception: I would drop a fortune for the cure to my under-eye bags. They are dark, they are ever-present, and they are a far cry from any bag I want (looking at you YSL Cassandre Envelope Chain). And while makeup artists can literally transform a person beyond the point of recognition, whenever I ask how to cover my circles, the answer is always: “Oop, that’s genetic… maybe try a color corrector?” Like yes, babe, I’ve tried it. I’ve tried caffeine creams, I’ve tried K-beauty miracles, I’ve tried everything. The bags have a tenacity and presence that could be studied by the Navy Seals.

So when I was grabbing lunch with one of my fave girlies and realized I needed new concealer, I asked if she’d come with me to Sephora. Best decision I’ve ever made. She’s a queen of many things, but her makeup knowledge? Revolutionary. Instead of pushing random products, she broke everything down: coverage levels, compact types, even how powders are milled and which brushes are best. A literal TED Talk in the Sephora aisle.

She gently pointed out why the color corrector I grabbed was not it, and while I had her trapped in the store, I kept throwing new problems her way. One major one I struggle with in the humidity? Flyaways.

She handed me the Dae Hair Styling Cream and Taming Wand, which she’d just discovered and after one use I am boldly recommending it to the girlies like, why has no one done this before??

Moral of my story? Shop with a girlie who wants to help you feel empowered and not overwhelmed on your next makeup haul.

🙈 Love is Blind Denver has dropped the first few episodes, and no spoilers here but you know when you get the note from production across the screen multiple times in episode 3, it’s a messy season.

🏆 The Golden Globes revealed they have added an award category for Best Podcast, along with the 25 pods eligible for the category. And let’s just say, this could be quite possibly the most fascinating category, if not controversial. Will Call Her Daddy beat out Dateline? Megyn Kelly or Mel Robbins? Ben Shapiro or Bill Simmons? Personally pulling for Smartless.

🦍 We lost Jane Goodall this week, and her journey proves you don’t need a fancy résumé to change the world, just the guts to walk your own path.

🖤 On October 9th, I will, in fact, be seated for the Victoria Beckham Netflix doc. I lived for every second of her screen time in Beckham and I just know this one’s about to feed us some elite-level quotes and commentary.

🌹 Bachelor Nation shocker: Melissa Rycroft Strickland, known from The Bachelor and Dancing with the Stars, was arrested on Sept. 23 in Southlake, Texas, on suspicion of DUI. There goes our prediction that she may one take take Kelly’s job with DCC.

10/22: This week we will be going live with the details of our Inner Circle CLT Collab event at Heist Brewery Barrel Arts. Make sure to keep an eye out for this spooky season celebration.

Plus we only have 4 (!!) tickets left for for our next show in Lake Norman! We’ll be at Nina’s Boutique on 10/16 and trust us, you don’t want to miss this. Giveaways, goodies, a $100 gift card drawing, 15% off, and a speakeasy vibe.

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Find an unhinged item in FB marketplace you can’t believe? Or something new at Trader Joes you think the girlies should try? Shoot us an email anytime at [email protected].